Floor mat with interlocking links



June 18, 1963 K. E. BROCK FLOOR MAT WITH INTERLOCKING LINKS Filed Oct. 26, 1960 IN VEN TOR: KENNETHEERMK.

flaw

FIE-E- raa ATTYs.

United States Patent Ohio Filed Oct. 26, 1960, Ser. No. 65,199 Claims. (Cl. 20-783) This invention relates to link type floor mats and particularly to a floor mat with interlocking links, each of the links being so designed as to cooperate with adjacent links in order to retain the links in close juxtaposition against relative displacement and thereby to prevent the separation of the links from each other and the resulting surface openings in the mat which are likely to cause in ury by catching the shoes of passers-by and particularly the heels of womens high-heeled shoes.

Link type mats are often fabricated by assembling individual links on parallel, horizontally extending assembly wires. In mats of this type a plurality of relative stiff assembly wires extend as a grid from one side of the mat to the other. The links are threaded onto the wires, usually with two of the wires extending through parallel apertures in the body of each link. Each of the assembly wires usually extends alternately through the left end of one link, the right end of the next link assembled on the Wire, the left end of the third link, etc. This arrangement provides for flexibility of the mat in a direction transverse of the length of the assembly lwires. In other wor ds, the mat may be rolled up upon itself because the links function as pivots providing for translation of the wires, while maintaining them parallel to each other.

Flexible mats of this general type have a problem which arises when they are placed upon inclined surfaces such as ramps. In such positions gravity and the reaction to the force of people walking up the ramp cause the links to shift downwardly, each of the links moving to the limit made possible by the size of the apertures relative to the outside dimension of the assembly wire. While the movement of each link is only a small fraction of an inch, the cumulative distance of movement provided by a number of rows of links is often sufiicient to cause the mat to buckle or to open voids in its surface, providing dangerous heel catching openings. The cumulative movement may also actually bend the assembly wires which (while originally straight, parallel and somewhat stiff) cannot be made so strong as to resist bending without rendering the mat too heavy for utilization.

It is the principal object of the instant invention to provide a link-type floor mat having interlocking links, each of the links being so designed as to cooperate with all of its neighbors for preventing the shifting of links relative to each other and the consequent deformation of the assembly wires which hold the mat together.

It is another object of the instant invention to provide a floor mat having interlocking links of such shape as to provide an apparently continuous surface and the links being so interlocked as to prevent their separation and the destruction of this continuous surface appearance.

These and other objects and advantages of a flexible floor mat embodying the invention will be better understood from the specification which follows and from the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, plan View, with parts broken away, of a floor mat embodying interlocking links according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of one of the links which are assembled together to form the mat shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view in elevation of one of the links shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a transverse half-link assemice bled with whole links to form the mat illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIGS. 2 and 4 but of a longitudinal half-link; and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIGS. 4 and 5 but of a quarter-link.

A flexible floor mat embodying the invention is generally indicated in FIG. 1 by the reference number 10. The mat 10 comprises a side nosing 11 and a similar side nosing (not shown) which extends along the opposite longitudinal edge of the mat 10. The side nosing 11 has a longitudinal aperture 12 extending through its body near the inner edge and a plurality of spaced openings 13 which intersect the aperture 12 and open inwardly through the inner edge of the nosing 11.

A plurality of transversely extending, spaced, parallel assembly wires 14 extends from the nosing 11 to the opposite nosing of the mat 10. Each of the wires 14 has a hook 15 on each end, the hooks 15 being inserted through the openings 13 and into the apertures 12 in order to hook the wires 14 to the two nosings 11.

The mat 10 also has two end nosings of which one is indicated by the reference number 16. The end nosing 16 is similar to the side nosing 11 in that it forms a margin or edge for the mat 10', the nosings 11 and 16 being thicker at their inner edges and tapering downwardly at their outer edges to provide a feather edge at all four sides of the mat 10. The end nosing 16 has an internal channel 17 into which is inserted an elongated bar 18 to stifien the nosing 16, the bar 18 extending parallel-ly to the assembly wires 14. The inner edge of the end nosing 16 is notched, forming a series of equi-distantly spaced tabs 19 through which one of the assembly wires 14 extends .and by \which end nosing 16 is linked into the border of the mat 10.

The mat 16 comprises a plurality of individual, interlocking links 20 which are assembled on the assembly wires 14 along with two types of half-links, viz., transverse or end half-links '21 (see also FIG. 4) and longitudinal or edge half-links 2 2 (see also FIG. 5). A mat of this type also requires four quarter or corner links 23 (see also FIG. 6). Each of the links 20 in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings is generally diamond shaped in plan view (FIG. 2). The link 20 has a body 24 which is widest at its center and a pair of wings 25 of identical though opposite configuration. Two spaced apertures 26 extend through the wings 25 of the body 24, the center lines of the apertures 26 being equi-distant-ly spaced between the ends of the wings 25 and the center of the body 24. The apertures 26 slip over two of the assembly wires 14 as for example shown by reference to the link denominated 20a in FIG. 1, with the left end of the link Zita being assembled on the assembly wire 14a and the right end of the nearest adjacent link 20]) being assembled on the same assembly wire 14a. By thus alternating the ends of adjacent links on each one of the assembly wires 14, each link 20 is assembled on two wires 14 and each link 20 functions as a hinge providing for flexibility of the mat 1t), allowing it to be rolled up, for example, or to conform to non-planar surfaces.

Each of the links 20' has four protrusions 27 extending laterally from the sides of its wings 25 and, closely adjacent the protrusions 27, each of the links 2h has four reent-rant recesses 28 each of which is complementary to a protrusion 27. When the links 2d are assembled adjacent each other on the assembly wires 14 and alternated thereon as explained above, the protrusions 27 of each link nest in the recesses 28 of adjacent links, providing for close nesting of the links 20 and uniform inter-locking of each link 20 to its four neighbors.

Each of the links 20 has an upper and lower surface lying generally in parallel planes, each of the surfaces being provided with a plurality of transversely extending, friction ribs 29' and bottom ribs 29a which cooperate with the ribs 2% and 29a of the adjacent links 20 to provide apparently continuous parallel ribs extending all the way across the apparently continuous surface of the mat 10.

In assembling a mat '10 from links 20 according to the invention, a row of end half-links 21 is used at each end of the mat 10. Each of the half-links 21 (FIG. 4) is identical to half of one of the links 20 plus a base portion 36 and a tab 31. The tab 31 of the link 21 extends between a pair of adjacent tabs 19 of the end nosing 16 and the links 21 are assembled to the end nosing 16 by one of the assembly wires (designated 14b in FIG. 1) which extends through apertures 32 in the link tabs 31 and 33 in the nosing tabs 19.

Along the sides or edges of the mat 10 longitudinal half-links 22 are employed to fill in the triangular spaces between longitudinally adjacent ones of the full links 20. Such a half-link 22 is illustrated in FIG. and is identical in configuration with a longitudinal half of one of the links 20. The half-link 22. has a pair of wire receiving apertures 34, spaced identically with the apertures 26 in the full links 24 A mat assembled according to the invention, utilizes four corner links '23 (FIG. 6). Each of the quarter links 23 consists of a longitudinal one-half of an end link 21, and similarly each has a half-tab 35 with a wire receiving aperture 36 and a spaced aperture 37 for the next adjacent wire. All of the half-links 21 and 22 and quarter links 23 have protrusions 38, 39 and 40, respectively, and

recesses 41, 42 and 43, respectively, which mate and cooperate with recesses 28 and protrusions 27 on the transversely adjacent, whole links 20*.

I claim:

1. A flexible floor mat of the type comprising a plu- I rality of evenly spaced, parallel assembly wires extending transversely across said mat and a plurality of parallel, transversely extending rows of links assembled on said wires, the links in each row being assembled on an adjacent pair of said wires and one end of the links in each pair of adjacent rows being assembled on the same one of said wires, in which each of said links has a central body portion and two oppositely extending end body portions, the upper and lower surfaces of said body portions being generally fiat and generally parallel and there being two spaced, parallel, wire receiving apertures extending through said end body portions parallelly to said surfaces, the end body portion of each of the links in each of said rows of links being on the same wire with, in contact with andbetween the end body portions of two of said links in an adjacent row of links, each of the end body portions of said link having at least one protrusion extending outwardly therefrom in a direction parallel to said wires and a re-entrant recess adjacent and complementary to said protrusion, the protrusions on the links of each of said rows of links interlocking with the recesses in the contacted links of both of the adjacent rows of said links.

' 2. A flexible fioormat according to claim 1 in which the recesses lie at the sides of the protrusions closer to the centers of the links.

3. A flexible floor mat according to claim 1 in which the central body-portion of each of the links is wider than the end-body portions and the edge contours of the central body portion and the end body portions are complementary to each other and nest in adjacency, and in which the wire receiving apertures are equidistantly spaced from the ends of the end body'portions and the center of the central body portion, whereby a plurality of said links assembled together provides an apparently continuous surface.

4. A flexible floor mat according to claim 1 in which each of said links has four protrusions, two on each of said end body portions, and each protrusion is opposite another lying in line therewith parallel to and adjacent said apertures.

5. A flexible fioor mat according to claim 4 in which each of said protrusions has two vertical faces extending outwardly from said body and with the face closer to the central portion of said body continuing to form one side of the adjacent re-entrant recess.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. A FLEXIBLE FLOOR MAT OF THE TYPE COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF EVENLY SPACED, PARALLEL ASSEMBLY WIRES EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY ACROSS SAID AND A PLURALITY OF PARALLEL, TRANSVERSELY EXTENDING ROWS OF LINKS ASSEMBLED ON SAID WIRES, THE LINKS IN EACH ROW BEING ASSEMBLED ON AN ADJACENT PAIR OF SAID WIRES AND ONE END OF THE LINKS IN EACH PAIR OF ADJACENT ROWS BEING ASSEMBLED ON THE SAME ONE OF SAID WIRES, IN WHICH EACH OF SAID LINKS HAS A CENTRAL BODY PORTION AND TWO OPPOSITELY EXTENDING END BODY PORTIONS, THE UPPER AND LOWER SURFACES OF SAID BODY PORTIONS BEING GENERALLY FLAT AND GENERALLY PARALLEL AND THERE BEING TWO SPACED, PARALLEL, WIRE RECEIVING APERTURES EXTENDING THROUGH SAID END BODY PORTIONS PARALLEL TO SAID SURFACES, THE END BODY PORTION OF EACH OF THE LINKS IN EACH OF SAID ROWS OF LINKS BEING ON THE SAME WIRE WITH, IN CONTACT WITH AND BETWEEN THE END BODY PORTIONS OF TWO OF SAID LINKS IN AN ADJACENT ROW OF LINKS, EACH OF THE END BODY PORTIONS OF SAID LINK HAVING AT LEAST ONE PROTRUSION EXTENDING OUTWARDLY THEREFROM IN A DIRECTION PARALLEL TO SAID WIRES AND A RE-ENTRANT RECESS ADJACENT AND COMPLEMENTARY TO SAID PROTRUSION, THE PROTRUSIONS ON THE LINKS OF EACH OF SAID ROWS OF LINKS INTERLOCKING WITH THE RECESSES IN THE CONTACTED LINKS OF BOTH OF THE ADJACENT ROWS OF SAID LINKS. 